Our New Stonecutters Bridge

On October 30th, 2008, after I had boarded a ferry to Lamma Island, I sat in a seat near a window. After five minutes or so, I discovered a new bridge far head on my right. The visibility was not that good on that day, but I could recognize it to be the new Stonecutters Bridge, almost completed, except the central part. Please click the above photo to have a better look at the bridge. Can you see the mouth of the Nam Wan Tunnel to the left of the photo?

Let us study the following information extracted from Wikipedia about this bridge :

Stonecutters Bridge (昂船洲大橋) is a high level cable-stayed bridge which spans the Rambler Channel in Hong Kong, connecting Nam Wan Kok, Tsing Yi Island and Stonecutters Island. It will have the second longest cable-stayed span in the world. The approaches at Tsing Yi and Stonecutters Island are located near Container Terminal 9 and Container Terminal 8, respectively. Construction commenced on 27th April, 2004 and is expected to be completed in 2009 by Maeda–Hitachi–Yokogawa–Hsin Chong Joint Venture. It costs HK$ 2,760 million. The bridge is part of Hong Kong's Route 8, connecting Sha Tin, Cheung Sha Wan, Tsing Yi Island, Ma Wan and Lantau Island. Other major constructions along the route are Nam Wan Tunnel (completed in 2008), Eagle's Nest Tunnel (completed in 2008), Sha Tin Heights Tunnel (completed in 2008), Tsing Ma Bridge (completed in 1997) and Kap Shui Mun Bridge (completed in 1997). As a result of the difficulty of constructing this bridge, the project was featured on the Discovery Channel's Extreme Engineering series in 2006.

Highway Department (HKSAR) describes the bridge as:

Stonecutters Bridge is a 1,596 metre long dual 3-lane high level cable stayed bridge, with a clear span of 1,018 metres. It is a major part of the section of Route 8 between Tsing Yi and Cheung Sha Wan. The bridge will straddle the Rambler Channel at the entrance to the busy Kwai Chung Container port. It will be situated at the back-up land of the Container Terminal 8 (CT8) at the eastern side on Stonecutters Island. At the western side it will be built on the back-up land formed for Container Terminal 9 (CT9) on Tsing Yi Island. The Stonecutters Bridge when completed will be one of the longest span cable-stayed bridges in the world.

After completion, the bridge provides an alternative route for vehicles of all kinds (except those carrying dangerous and inflamable goods, explosives and fuel) a short cut from Kowloon East through Shatin, Cheung Sha Wan to Tsing Yi Island. In particular, it aids container-trucks to carry containers to and and from Container Terminal 9.